Jalandhar blast had ISI backing: agencies

The Laskhar-e-Taiba, the militant group allegedly involved in Friday's bomb blast in Jalandhar city that claimed seven lives is backed by Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence directorate, according to intelligence and security agencies.

The group, a militant wing of the Lahore-based Markaz Daawat-ul-Irshad founded by Professor Hafiz Mohammad Sayad in 1986, proposes "to establish the supremacy of Islam". Lashkar-e-Toiba, meaning pious army, has been named after the old name of Mecca.

Though directed by the ISI, the religious outfit has no overt political affiliation. Funded by Saudi Arabia and Muslims across the world, the Laskhar-e-Taiba’s training centres in Afghanistan are mainly funded by Saudi Arabia, according to intelligence and security agencies.

About a thousand members of the group are being trained at Mansoora near Lahore at any given time, says Khalid Ahmed, editor of Aaj Kal, the Lahore-based Urdu weekly.

Intelligence sources said the Laskhars had forged an understanding with Lakhbir Singh Rode of the International Sikh Youth Federation and had started operating under the name of Khalistan Kashmir International. KKI letterpads were recovered by the Border Security Force when they caught two infiltrators on the Pathankot-Jammu national highway last year.

The sources said the KKI operatives have been given both Sikh and Hindu cover identities. Some trainees were taught basic Punjabi, the Gurmukhi script and how to tie a turban.

The Laskhar-e-Taiba runs an intensive programme for diehard activists. The preliminary training programme, lasting three weeks, is called Daure Aam. This is followed by the Daure Khas, a commando type course lasting three months, at Muzaffarabad. This is where the weaker activists are weeded out.

The fundamentalist outfit's course content include classes in Islamic scriptures, guerrilla warfare tactics, map-reading, hand-to-hand combat, horse-riding, camouflage, infiltrating an area, reconnaissance, conducting raids, laying ambushes, and surviving up to three days without food, the sources said.

A fortnight-long firing practice sessions are organised in rough terrain of Afghanistan where the trainees handle modern weapons, including sniper rifles, anti-aircraft guns and rocket launchers.